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Your Team's Under The Radar Star

Basically, I'm bored while I need to be doing some work and I'm looking for some players that I need to pay attention to this season. So, which player on your team is ready to explode in 2012 (i.e. Whitney Mercilus or Fitz Touissant)?

For Illinois, I'm going to cheat because it is my thread and go with both Sophomore RBs, Donovonn Young and Josh Ferguson. If there was one thing I hated about Zook it was that he was too loyal to under performing players. But, Jason Ford is out of the way. Donovonn Young reminds me a lot of Rashard Mendenhall and Ferguson gives us a legit homerun threat out of the backfield.

I'd say on offense for the Badgers I'd go with Melvin Gordon who is a RS Freshman RB in a loaded backfield. He's been a spring stud and will get in a 3 back rotation. Otherwise the offense will be set with starters like Ball, Abbrederis, Pedersen.. So on. On defense I'll go with David Gilbert. If he stays healthy he'll be a difference maker at the end spot. He's not J.J Watt, but he always shows flashes

For Illinois, I'm going to cheat because it is my thread and go with both Sophomore RBs, Donovonn Young and Josh Ferguson. If there was one thing I hated about Zook it was that he was too loyal to under performing players. But, Jason Ford is out of the way. Donovonn Young reminds me a lot of Rashard Mendenhall and Ferguson gives us a legit homerun threat out of the backfield.

Agree about both Young and Ferguson. A guy I think we need to watch out for is the freshman DB TaJarvis Fuller. He probably won't start right away but he will see some meaningful snaps this year.

Also, look out for Terry Hawthorne to be playing WR this year. He could potentially be very good their.

Agree about both Young and Ferguson. A guy I think we need to watch out for is the freshman DB TaJarvis Fuller. He probably won't start right away but he will see some meaningful snaps this year.

Also, look out for Terry Hawthorne to be playing WR this year. He could potentially be very good their.

I'm really interested to see what they do with Fuller. He was great in the spring but so was Ashante Williams at that Star LB spot. On the other hand, Sanni and Steve Hull suck. I wouldn't be surprised if one of Fuller or Williams are forced to S at some point.

I was trying to stay away from naming Jonathan Brown (or Akeem Spence or Buchanan) so I ignored defense. But, if I picked a defender I'd go with Darius Caldwell. I'm actually pretty confident in Buchanan to replace Mercilus' production (not 16 sacks but I could see 10+ from him). But who is going to replace what Buchanan gave us last year? I think Caldwell could be a good option to start.

I hope Young stays healthy for the Illini, he never seemed to be 100% last year in any game but he showed signs of greatness.

I think if we get smart and let O'Toole play the majority of the snaps at QB he could put up some nice numbers.

That would not be the smart thing to do. The smart thing to do is let your QB who's led you to 2 straight bowl wins, is on pace to break multiple QB records, has started since he was a RS freshman, and is better suited to run a spread than O'toole start the year while getting O'toole some snaps.

Make no mistake, the best QB will play. Right now the coaches feel that's Nate.

I'm really interested to see what they do with Fuller. He was great in the spring but so was Ashante Williams at that Star LB spot. On the other hand, Sanni and Steve Hull suck. I wouldn't be surprised if one of Fuller or Williams are forced to S at some point.

I was trying to stay away from naming Jonathan Brown (or Akeem Spence or Buchanan) so I ignored defense. But, if I picked a defender I'd go with Darius Caldwell. I'm actually pretty confident in Buchanan to replace Mercilus' production (not 16 sacks but I could see 10+ from him). But who is going to replace what Buchanan gave us last year? I think Caldwell could be a good option to start.

I like Caldwell a lot and honestly I would start Fuller over Hull and Sanni in a heartbeat. Steve Hull is so bad and Sanni isn't much better.

That would not be the smart thing to do. The smart thing to do is let your QB who's led you to 2 straight bowl wins, is on pace to break multiple QB records, has started since he was a RS freshman, and is better suited to run a spread than O'toole start the year while getting O'toole some snaps.

Make no mistake, the best QB will play. Right now the coaches feel that's Nate.

Well, this is for another thread, but I am not a Scheelhasse fan at all. Two straight bowl wins that nobody can remember the name of, including one in which LeShoure carried the offense. Whoopty do.

Hopefully the new staff and scheme will make Nate look better and not rely on him throwing the ball a whole lot down the field.

As for breakouts, a lot of hype around Josh Ferguson right now. Hopefully between he and Young we can get great production on the ground. We'll definitely need it. EDIT: Nevermind BCB already touched on Ferguson in the first post...

For Ohio State one that sticks out on offense is TE Jake Stoneburner..he has great size at 6'6" and Urban Meyer loves his TE's..

On defense I'm thinking Soph MLB Curtis Grant..Highly recruited a couple years ago and played sparingly because of our LB Depth last season, he is already penciled in as the starter at MLB.

Grant also has alot of trouble really grasping the playbook. We had alot of good linebackers but not really great linebacker like we are used to at Ohio st. (Hawk, Laurinitas, Carpenter, Rolle, Schlegel among others) guys who were really truely dominant college linebackers. I think if Grant was able to really grasp the playbook and the overall different pace of the game (something that frustrated him greatly) then I think he would have been the starter last year.

Offense I think Jordan Hall. He has always been a very talented back and can be pretty physical and very fast. I think in Urban Meyers offense (where he will have the role like Harvin did in Florida, catching and running the football) I think he will be huge this season